Please help select the right college for me

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hello, first time poster
I'm currently a high school junior looking for some guidance in choosing the colleges I will eventually apply to. I have a cumulative weighted GPA of ~4.3 (around 3.8 unweighted) with a weighted GPA of 4.566 through the first semester of this year at a fairly prestigious private, catholic high school in New Jersey. I take almost all AP and honors classes. I am active in 8 school clubs including being the treasurer of the International Travelers Club (have gone to Italy and Japan) and the associate editor of the award-winning school paper. I've done community service at the local Boys and Girls club and little league as well as 40 hours of service as mandated by my school. I am waiting on my SAT scores as I took the test two weeks ago, but I am expecting 1900-2200 with 700+ scores in reading and writing. I will more than likely major in English or something related to literature and writing such as Journalism. </p>

<p>I am looking for an enjoyable college experience but with a fairly challenging and prestigious academic program. I'd prefer a small-medium amount of students, fraternities, parties, and networking. Essentially a school where I will make a lot of friends and have a good time. I'd like a school near a good community where there's never a lack of things to do but I never necessarily feel overwhelmed. </p>

<p>Out of these schools:
Bentley
Bucknell
Colgate
Dickinson
Wesleyan
Boston College
Johns Hopkins
(and other schools you can think of that meet the above criteria)</p>

<p>Which school do you think seems to be the best fit for me?
With a small-mid sized number of students, a good campus environment, fraternities, parties, good academic programs especially in English, and a warm, inviting area around the campus that's condusive to meeting new people and having an enjoyable time.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that just because I want a school with the above characteristics does not mean that I want to breeze through college. I want to be challenged at the same time and truly come away skilled at whatever I decide to major in. Please keep any suggestions for schools in the range of the top 200 in the nation at the least. </p>

<p>Thanks in advance for your input,
Mike</p>

2

<p>bump. seriously noone can help me?</p>

3

<p>1900-2200 is quite a difference. If you score 2100 + you should look at Amherst, Middlebury, Bowdoin types of places but, although they have sports team-sponsored parties, they don’t have fraternities. Slightly lower scores and maybe you should look at Colby, Trinity.</p>

4

<p>A lot depends on your SATs.</p>

<p>LACs for English from Rugg’s Recommendations</p>

<p>Allegheny
Amherst
Bard
Bowdoin
Bryn Mawr
Carleton
Centre
Claremont McKenna
Colby
Colgate
Colorado C
Connecticut C
U Dallas
Dartmouth
Davidson
Dickinson
Franklin and Marshall
Gettysburg
Grinnell
Hamilton
Heverford
Holy Cross
Illinois Wesleyan
Kalamazoo
Kenyon
Knox
Lafayette
Lawrence
Macalester
Middlebury
Mount Holyoke
Oberlin
Pomona
Reed
Rhodes
U Richmond
Sarah Lawrence
Skidmore
Smith
U South
St Olaf
Swartmore
Trinity (TX)
Vassar
Wake Forest
Washington and Lee
Wellesley
Wesleyan
Wheaton
Whitman
Willamette
Williams </p>

<p>Gourman Report ranking for undergraduate English</p>

<p>Yale
UC Berkeley
Harvard
U Chicago
Stanford
Cornell
Princeton
Columbia
Johns Hopkins
U Penn
UCLA
Brown
Indiana
U Michigan
UC Irvine
Northwestern
Wisconsin
Rutgers
UNC Chapel Hill
U Iowa
u Virginia
NYU
U Notre Dame
U Illinois
U Washington
Duke
U Texas Austin
SUNY Stony Brook
U Rochester
Emory
Washington U St Louis
Dartmouth
U Minnesota
UC San Diego
Vanderbilt
Pomona
Brandeis
Swarthmore
Haverford
U Mass Amherst
UC Santa Barbara</p>

5

<p>Okay fair enough. Assume I got a 2100 then. And out of the schools I named more specifically with the criteria I mentioned, what seems the best fit?</p>

6

<p>I would look into Dartmouth is you’re serious about wanting fraternities and you think your SAT will be 2100+ (and possibly retaking to get higher than that?)</p>

<p>Also, with your criteria of wanting to be able to have fun and meet people easily you should maybe look into schools in the Boston area. There are SOOOO many colleges there. So I think your pick of Boston College is right on. Google other colleges in Boston though, there are a lot.</p>

<p>Back when I wanted to be an English major, I remember it was REALLY hard to find schools that are specifically “good” in English because every school offers an English major. However, if you may want Creative Writing or something specific like that, it’s easier to narrow down. For creative writing I would say Oberlin, Wesleyan, Emerson (Boston too!), Vassar, and probably liberal arts colleges in general that offer a creative writing major. If you want screenwriting, go for Emerson, USC, or any school with good English and film programs. Journalism, look at Northwestern, Mizzou and Syracuse. If your interest is in a specific type of literature, look for schools with a specified program or concentration.</p>

<p>I think in general, based on your criteria, you should probably be looking mostly at liberal arts colleges. However, as an LAC lover, I am probably biased. I second the recommendation of Amherst, Williams, Middlebury and Bowdoin assuming your scores are high enough, and add Vassar, Oberlin, Grinnell, Macalester, Reed, Swarthmore, Beloit and Pomona.</p>

<p>In terms of which colleges on your list seem to match your criteria the best, I would say Wesleyan and BC. (Full disclosure: Wes is my first choice at moment, haha.)</p>

<p>GOOD LUCK! Read the Fiske’s Guide and go online to like CollegePr0wler.com and read up about schools you are interested in. Seriously, the only thing you can do to figure stuff like this out is to read tons about every school. And go on their school websites too.</p>

7

<p>I’m pretty sure Vassar has dropped the creative writing major.</p>

8

<p>I think I’d be tempted to take a look at some of the authors who teach in the creative writing depts at various schools–Joyce Carol Oates and Chang-rae Lee at Princeton, Margaret Atwood at Kenyon, Dan Chaon at Oberlin, Richard Russo at Colby, etc. etc. And then if you have your favorites, where did they go to school and who are their mentors? i.e., Jonathan Safran Foer took an intro writing class at Princeton with Oates that changed his life…Or publications. If you want to go toward journalistic writing, which college papers get the awards? All this takes some digging, but you’ll learn a lot in the process. Also, consider the approach at various colleges. To be a creative writing major at Oberlin I believe you have to qualify right before your junior year. There’s no guarantee you’ll make it. I think it’s the same with Bard. Just good to know this kind of stuff while choosing schools. You do have an advantage since you know what you want to study!</p>